# Ixcanul
**Ixcanul** is a 2015 drama film directed and written by Jayro Bustamante, a coproduction of [Guatemala](https://www.edgepedia.org/guatemala) and France, and the first feature film made in the Kaqchikel Mayan language[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul). Its title means "volcano" in Kaqchikel, after the [Pacaya volcano](https://www.edgepedia.org/pacaya) on whose slopes the story is set[2](https://cinegogia.omeka.net/items/show/340). The film won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the 2015 Berlinale and was Guatemala's second submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards, following The Silence of Neto, which was its first entry in 1994, though it was not nominated[3](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/Ixcanul%20press%20kit.pdf) • [4](https://www.afi.com/news/the-afi-fest-interview-ixcanul-director-jayro-bustamante/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4135844/) • [23](https://remezcla.com/film/trailer-mayan-romance-ixcanul-is-guatemalas-first-ever-entry-for-the-best-foreign-language-film-oscar/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Jayro Bustamante, his first feature film[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul) |
| Year, countries, runtime | 2015; Guatemala and France; 91 minutes[6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/) |
| Languages | Kaqchikel and Spanish[6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/) |
| Principal cast | María Mercedes Coroy (María), María Telón (Juana), Marvin Coroy (Pepe), Manuel Antún (Manuel), Justo Lorenzo (Ignacio)[6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/) |
| Top award | Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize, 2015 Berlinale[3](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/Ixcanul%20press%20kit.pdf) |
| Oscar entry | Guatemala's second submission for Best Foreign Language Film, 88th Academy Awards, after The Silence of Neto (1994); not nominated[4](https://www.afi.com/news/the-afi-fest-interview-ixcanul-director-jayro-bustamante/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4135844/) • [23](https://remezcla.com/film/trailer-mayan-romance-ixcanul-is-guatemalas-first-ever-entry-for-the-best-foreign-language-film-oscar/) |
| Production | La Casa de Producción (Guatemala) and Tu Vas Voir (France); world premiere at the 2015 Berlinale[7](https://lacasadeproduccion.com.gt/en/films/ixcanul-lengths-films/) |
| Total recognition | More than 60 international awards, per later profiles; counted at 48 by July 2016[8](https://mcd.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2736-1_compressed.pdf) • [9](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-es-elegida-como-mejor-opera-prima-en-los-premios-platino-2016) |
## Spoilers
### Story
María, a 17-year-old Kaqchikel Maya woman, lives with her parents on a coffee plantation at the foot of an active volcano in Guatemala. Her parents have arranged her marriage to Ignacio, the plantation's foreman, a union meant to secure the family's access to the land they work. María is drawn instead to Pepe, a coffee harvester who dreams of reaching the United States. After the two consummate their relationship, Pepe leaves for the States without her, and María discovers she is pregnant[10](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/ixcanul/) • [6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/).
Her mother Juana tries to end the pregnancy with traditional methods, including hot stones and purgatives, and a difficult pregnancy assisted only by traditional medicine eventually leads María to the big city, on grim terms[11](https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/latinamericafilm/2021/08/26/ixcanul-2015-central-america/) • [10](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/ixcanul/). The film's daily texture follows a life governed by ancestral beliefs and rituals, including the temascal (sweat bath) shared by mother and daughter and a spirit guide's attempt to rid the corn field of snakes[6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/) • [11](https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/latinamericafilm/2021/08/26/ixcanul-2015-central-america/).
## Production and language
Jayro Bustamante, born in Guatemala in 1977, grew up in a Maya community and studied film directing in Paris and screenwriting in Rome before returning to Guatemala, where he co-founded the production company La Casa de Producción in 2009[12](https://mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/sites/mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/files/catalogo_festival_37.pdf). Ixcanul was his first feature[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul).
The film was shot entirely in Kaqchikel, an [Indigenous language](https://www.edgepedia.org/indigenous-language) native to roughly half a million speakers, and speaking Kaqchikel was made a basic requirement for the leading role[13](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-jayro-bustamante-ixcanul-guatemala-palm-springs-film-fest-20160106-column.html) • [14](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10092231/1/A_and_C_FINAL.pdf). Bustamante returned to the Kaqchikel region where he grew up, held workshops, asked residents to tell stories from their own lives, and examined living conditions of the Maya at close range; the Kaqchikel community of San Vicente Pacaya served as the cast and oversaw translating the script[6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/) • [15](https://openurl.ebsco.com/contentitem/doi%3A10.1353/tla.2024.a947801?id=ebsco%3Adoi%3A10.1353%2Ftla.2024.a947801&sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Acrawler). The cast was nonprofessional and helped co-write the script[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul). Filming took place on an active volcano under a reduced budget, with locations including the Pacaya Volcano, a hospital in Amatitlán, and the village of El Patrocinio in San Vicente Pacaya, Escuintla[4](https://www.afi.com/news/the-afi-fest-interview-ixcanul-director-jayro-bustamante/) • [11](https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/latinamericafilm/2021/08/26/ixcanul-2015-central-america/).
## Reception and awards
Ixcanul premiered in competition at the 2015 Berlinale, where it won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize[3](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/Ixcanul%20press%20kit.pdf). It also screened at Telluride, Toronto, and [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian), and gathered awards at [Guadalajara](https://www.edgepedia.org/guadalajara) (best film and best director), [Cartagena](https://www.edgepedia.org/cartagena) (best film), Toulouse (audience and French critics' prize), and Santo Domingo (best first film), among others[16](https://www.berlinale-talents.de/bt/project/profile/146761) • [6](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/).
**Cumulative award counts** tracked its festival run. At the Festival Ícaro in November 2015, where it won five prizes including best Central American fiction feature, the total stood at 35[17](https://www.prensalibre.com/vida/escenario/ixcanul-arrasa-con-premios-en-el-xviii-festival-icaro/). It reached 39 with the Best First Film award at the Cinema Tropical Awards in New York in January 2016, 40 with the same category at the 20th Satellite Awards in February 2016, and 48 with Best Ibero-American Fiction First Film at the third Premios Platino in [Punta del Este](https://www.edgepedia.org/punta-del-este) in July 2016[18](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-obtiene-galardon-en-cinema-tropical-awards-por-mejor-opera-prima) • [19](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/un-premio-mas-para-ixcanul-esta-vez-en-los-satellite-awards.html) • [9](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-es-elegida-como-mejor-opera-prima-en-los-premios-platino-2016). Later profiles, including Guatemala's film academy, put the total at more than 60 international awards[8](https://mcd.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2736-1_compressed.pdf). At the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano in Havana it received the Casa de las Américas prize and the Cibervoto prize in the Ópera Prima category, and it took a special mention from the international jury at the This World human rights festival in Vienna[20](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-recibe-dos-premios-en-el-festival-internacional-del-nuevo-cine-latinoamericano.html).
Critics received the film as a social realist portrait of Guatemala's contemporary Maya population, free of exoticism; Variety called it "downright Herzogian" in its physical detail and observed ritual[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul).
## Legacy
The film's reception marked a shift in Guatemalan cinema: Fundación Ixcanul, the organization founded by Bustamante in 2018, describes Ixcanul, which addressed Indigenous women and forced marriage, as marking a before and after in Guatemalan filmmaking[21](https://www.fundacionixcanul.org/nosotros). Through community distribution, the film reached 80,000 people who, the foundation states, saw themselves reflected in cinema for the first time[21](https://www.fundacionixcanul.org/nosotros). Bustamante followed it with *Temblores* (2019) and *La Llorona* (2019), the first Central American film nominated for a Golden Globe and shortlisted for the Academy Awards[12](https://mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/sites/mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/files/catalogo_festival_37.pdf).
Scholarship has read the film as a decolonial gesture: studies note that it connects oral and dramatic Kaqchikel traditions to a cinematic register and challenges power structures that limit Indigenous voices in Guatemala[22](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10108801/).
## References
1. [Ixcanul, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/ixcanul)
2. [Ixcanul, Cinegogía](https://cinegogia.omeka.net/items/show/340)
3. [Ixcanul press kit, Kino Lorber](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/Ixcanul%20press%20kit.pdf)
4. [The AFI FEST Interview: IXCANUL Director Jayro Bustamante, American Film Institute](https://www.afi.com/news/the-afi-fest-interview-ixcanul-director-jayro-bustamante/)
5. [Ixcanul (2015), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4135844/)
6. [Ixcanul, trigon-film](https://trigon-film.org/en/films/ixcanul/)
7. [Ixcanul, La Casa de Producción](https://lacasadeproduccion.com.gt/en/films/ixcanul-lengths-films/)
8. [Informe actualizado octubre y noviembre, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala](https://mcd.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2736-1_compressed.pdf)
9. [Ixcanul es elegida como Mejor Ópera Prima en los Premios Platino 2016, Guatemala.com](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-es-elegida-como-mejor-opera-prima-en-los-premios-platino-2016)
10. [Ixcanul, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/ixcanul/)
11. [Ixcanul 2015 (Central America), Latin America Film, James Madison University](https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/latinamericafilm/2021/08/26/ixcanul-2015-central-america/)
12. [Competencia catalog, Festival de Cinematográfico de Montevideo](https://mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/sites/mvdaudiovisual.montevideo.gub.uy/files/catalogo_festival_37.pdf)
13. [Director Jayro Bustamante of 'Ixcanul' on shooting in Maya on a Guatemalan volcano, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-jayro-bustamante-ixcanul-guatemala-palm-springs-film-fest-20160106-column.html)
14. [Can María speak?: Interpreting Ixcanul/Volcano (2015) from a decolonial perspective, UCL Discovery](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10092231/1/A_and_C_FINAL.pdf)
15. [Relacionalidad y animidad en Ixcanul, The Latin Americanist (EBSCOhost)](https://openurl.ebsco.com/contentitem/doi%3A10.1353/tla.2024.a947801?id=ebsco%3Adoi%3A10.1353%2Ftla.2024.a947801&sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Acrawler)
16. [Ixcanul, Berlinale Talents](https://www.berlinale-talents.de/bt/project/profile/146761)
17. [Ixcanul arrasa con premios en el XVIII Festival Ícaro, Prensa Libre](https://www.prensalibre.com/vida/escenario/ixcanul-arrasa-con-premios-en-el-xviii-festival-icaro/)
18. [Ixcanul obtiene galardón en Cinema Tropical Awards por Mejor Ópera Prima, Guatemala.com](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-obtiene-galardon-en-cinema-tropical-awards-por-mejor-opera-prima)
19. [Un premio más para Ixcanul, esta vez en los Satellite Awards, Guatemala.com](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/un-premio-mas-para-ixcanul-esta-vez-en-los-satellite-awards.html)
20. [Ixcanul recibe dos premios en el Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Guatemala.com](https://www.guatemala.com/noticias/entretenimiento/ixcanul-recibe-dos-premios-en-el-festival-internacional-del-nuevo-cine-latinoamericano.html)
21. [Conócenos, Fundación Ixcanul](https://www.fundacionixcanul.org/nosotros)
22. [Can María speak?: Interpreting Ixcanul/Volcano (2015) from a decolonial perspective, Studies in Spanish & Latin-American Cinemas, UCL Discovery](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10108801/)
23. [Mayan Romance 'Ixcanul' Is Guatemala's Entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar](https://remezcla.com/film/trailer-mayan-romance-ixcanul-is-guatemalas-first-ever-entry-for-the-best-foreign-language-film-oscar/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2015 to 2019 › Drama films 2015 and 2016 › Released in 2015*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license